Tethered
by brokenlovesong
Summary: Blaine wakes up on the morning of his birthday and turns over to find that Kurt is absent from their bed, nothing pointing to where he has gone Blaine gets up so he can find him. Kurt is waiting for him with a surprise.


The morning sun was tingling against Blaine's eyelids and heated up his entire face. He turned over in the and fumbled for Kurt's hand but couldn't find it, so he opened his eyes, only to find the bed empty.

Where was Kurt? Had he forgot that it was his birthday?

Blaine sat up in the bed to see if he could find any indication as to where Kurt had gone, sad as he had hoped to get some morning cuddle - it was his birthday after all.

He looked to the end of the room and found Kurt's bag in front of the closet, which meant that he hadn't gone to the gym. His wallet and phone was on the nightstand, so he hadn't gone to Starbucks. His clothes from the day before was still folded neatly on the chair, so he hadn't gone to do laundry either. There was no signs whatsoever to tell of where he was.

Blaine felt defeated and sad. This wasn't exactly how he had hoped his day would be. He decided that he might as well get up and get some coffee, and hope that Kurt had plans on showing up eventually.

He swung his feet over the side of the bed and found that there was something weird about his hand. He looked down and found that a red thread had been tied to his finger, attached with a little bow. That was strange.

He immediately realized that the thread was very long and led out of the bedroom, so he guessed that there was nothing to do but follow it. Suddenly his sadness of Kurt's absence had been replaced by intrigue of what this new invention of Kurt's was. Because obviously it had to be the reason for Kurt's absence. Hadn't it?

He followed the thread out of the bedroom and down the hall of their tiny apartment. It occurred to him that the shades in the living room had to be shut, because it was very dark down the hall where the light usually spread and made him wake up just enough to handle the coffee maker.

When he reached the living room he found Kurt sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by rose petals covering the soft, white rug. It didn't take him long to see that the other end of the thread was attached to Kurt's finger.

"Kurt. What are you doing? What is this?" He asked, feeling lousy that he didn't have anything better to say when his boyfriend had done all this for him, and even worse when he remembered that he for a brief moment had thought he had completely ditched him on his birthday.

"Don't ask. Just come and sit with me. Please," Kurt said softly and gestured for him to come sit with him.

Blaine was still confused, but his curiosity kept rising and his brain was locked on what this could be. He crossed the floor and sat down, completely awake now, and feelings raging around inside him.

"I… please be quiet and let me do this. I just need to… get this out, so please don't say anything until I'm done," Kurt asked stammering, clearly nervous for some odd reason. He had his hands folded in his lap in front of him, his thumbs doing circles over the rest of his fingers the way he always did when he was facing some big task that he was sure he was going to fail, like exams or auditions.

"Hey, take it easy, babe. We've got all day. Just… relax, and tell me what you wanna say. I promise I'll stay silent," Blaine assured him and reached out to brush his hand lightly.

A little twitch ran through Kurt and Blaine figured that he should pull his own away. Apparently this was something that required no physical contact, which he respected. He had seen Kurt get sick, and horribly bitchy, if people crossed his boundaries when he was in that place of mood.

Blaine shuffled a little to find a comfortable position as he had no idea how long this would take. Kurt closed his eyes and drew a heavy breath before he looked back at him, stared into his eyes, blue and intense piercing his soul.

"When I was little I knew that I was… different. Special, people said. I knew that I was gay from I even could form a sentence in my head. I kept to myself and did what I could to get through the day alive. I was so lonely - you know that I was," Kurt started out, and Blaine knew that he had to prepare himself for something emotional. This was stuff Kurt never talked about, and Blaine didn't bring it up because he knew how painful it was to him.

"When my mom died it got unbearable. I was beside myself, and had nothing but dreaming and music to keep me company. To keep my head up." He paused, and let his head drop, very possible by the memory of his mom.

Blaine wanted to reach out and grab his hand, tell him that it was okay. That he didn't need to be lonely anymore - but it wasn't his time to speak.

"I've never believed in anything really. I never believed in God, or Buddha or Allah or anything. Not faith or destiny. To me life has always been a combination of decision that would decide where people would end up."

He forced himself to look at Blaine, to look him in the eyes for as long as he could, but Blaine could feel that it was hard for him. His breathing was tensed and his fingers were fumbling like crazy, stressing Blaine that he couldn't ask him to take a second to calm himself down.

"I was the only out gay kid, and it was hard. So incredibly hard. I knew that there weren't any gay guys in Ohio - especially not Lima. That would have been… preposterous. So as I said, all I had was dreaming. But I had faced that I would always be lonely. That I would never find anyone - surely not anyone like the guy I was dreaming about."

Kurt bit his lower lip, and let his eyes flutter for a second. Again he looked away, sniffing a little, and balling his hands to fists, before he turned back to face Blaine.

"I knew I was being ridiculous. Silly. Watching my musicals and wishing for a guy like that. Someone who would love music and theater as much as I do. Someone who would serenade me with a beautiful voice and be gorgeous at the same time. Someone who would… proudly hold my hand in public, open the door and pull out the chair for me. A boy that would hold me when I was sad and laugh with me when I was happy. Someone strong and independent, but still share everything with me, simply because he wished to. I knew that guys like that just didn't exist. That it was all a mirage made up by Broadway and Hollywood - Disney movies with their Prince Charmings."

Kurt chuckled hollowly at his own words, and squeezed his eyes shut; opening to let tears stroll down his cheeks. Those flawless cheeks, pale as snow with a hint of rose perfectly melting into his skin.

Blaine's head was clouded and he realized that a stone was growing in his chest. Where exactly was Kurt going with all of this?

"But there you were - appeared magically out of nowhere, when I had abandoned all hope. Told myself that love wasn't for me, that the only love I would get to spend my life with was the stage. And you just grabbed my hand and… opened this whole new world to me."

This was getting too hard. How could he keep the distance when Kurt sat there crying and saying stuff like that? Just the lightest touch of his fingertips, anything to feel him, let him know that their connection was locked, and that he would never in his life let him go back to being that boy that had nothing.

"After that day I snuck into Dalton - you were all I could dream about. When I put on a musical or an old classic I didn't even watch it, it was just there, while I fantasized about you. I had this dream that we could be together, and when I finally transferred to Dalton I was sure that it was going to happen. But it just… didn't."

He inhaled heavily and wiped a tear off his cheek, only to le it be replaced by new ones, so he exhaled and continued.

"You broke my heart, Blaine. Twice. You got me to help you out and support you in singing to a random guy at a clothing store - a _clothing store_. My own home ground. I was devastated, crushed. I had been so sure that you had meant it to be me. But he rejected you, and I just wanted to… slap him, for being such an idiot to turn someone like you down."

Blaine felt embarrassed. He hadn't thought about Jeremiah for years, and he certainly wasn't planning on doing it again. He had been so ignorant, thinking that he actually had been in love with him.

"I told you and you… you were so noble about it. You could easily have laughed me off for being so shallow to think that you would actually ever want me. But you didn't, you took it so elegantly, and I started hoping once again. Only to have you break my heart again a few weeks later. By kissing my friend, and enjoying it a little too much. A girl. You made me question my whole world, made be fear that I didn't even know you, even though I considered you my best friend - that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to witness. I was so scared that you would turn out to be straight, and I would once again be left alone without as much as a friend to understand how I felt."

Kurt's lower lip started quivering, and Blaine knew that even though this was something they laughed about together Kurt still hated the memory. And so did he. The way Kurt had looked at him like he had taken away everything good in his life, like he had stolen his singing voice and hearing sense, like he had turned off the sun. Which he basically had. It had been so painful to know that he inflicted this on him, and there was nothing he could do about it, because he had been so torn and confused himself.

"But then one day - you swept me off my feet. You took my breath away. As you had done so many times before, and have so many times after. I'll never forget that day you kissed me the first time. I thought I knew love before, but I didn't. Not until you showed me."

His voice was starting to shake, and he kept blinking to wave away the tears, but there kept coming more, and he struggled to keep his head steady and his voice even. Blaine was impressed that he had even made it that far without breaking completely down - that they both had. He could feel salty tears welling up in his own eyes, and he fought hard to hold them in; to not let them take over so he could keep listening. Take in every sound that escaped Kurt's lips.

"You've given me the best years of my life, and I know that you will give me so many more. You are all that I dreamed of. The musical dream, the Hollywood picture, my Prince Charming - and you made me believe in soul mates. Because how could we be anything less? We're connected by this invisible tether, keeping us together, because we are _meant_ to be together. I know that we are. I see that now."

A heavy sob came out, and Blaine almost rushed to him before he remembered his promise and stayed. Kurt squeezed his eyes as hard as he could, waited, gathered his thoughts and awaited control of his breathing and voice to return.

"Blaine… Anderson. You're the best friend I ever had. You're the only boyfriend I ever had, and the only boy, guy - man, I will ever want. So I was hoping that… you would also like to be my husband. Some day."

Kurt looked like a deer caught in headlights when he opened his left hand for the first time all morning and showed that the read thread tied to Blaine's left ring finger was also tied to Kurt's left ring finger - but in his hand he had hidden a ring, the string through it.

Blaine was shocked, baffled, completely taken off guard. He had in no way expected this at all. Feelings were storming around inside of him, and he couldn't stop staring at the ring - that little silver band lying so perfect in Kurt's hand, just waiting for him to make up an answer. But he was unable to think, even less capable of forming a sentence that would be anything but sounds mixed in a stress of incoherent outbursts.

"Yes. Yes! More than anything," he finally got out and wished that he could defy that short distance between them and fold his arms around Kurt, but he didn't know if he was allowed yet. He just wanted to feel him, and kiss him, and have him in his arms, and -

Screw it, Blaine thought, and climbed to his knees and pulled Kurt into a hug, kissing his cheek, clenching him to his chest.

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes - always. I wanna be with you. Always," Blaine kept whispering, sobbing into his ear, crying finally taken over, and he could feel big, fat drops strolling down his face and soaking the sleeve of his shirt.

"You are so beautiful, I love you so much," he kept going, happiness welling in over him, and a need to hug Kurt tighter, because he could never have him just tight enough, but instead he stretched out his arms, making sure he could look Kurt in the eyes during what he was about to say.

"I will do anything, _anything_, to make sure that you will never ever be lonely again. Ever. There's too much amazing of you to not have the world see that. But as much as the world is gonna love you, I am sure that no one could love you as much as I do - I know I could never love anyone as much as I love you."

Kurt's eyes were sparkling, completely illuminating the room, their little bubble of happiness, as Blaine leaned his forehead into Kurt's wishing that he could stare into his eyes forever, not needing anything but that, when Kurt suddenly startled and pulled away.

"Give me your hand," he rushed in a thick voice, sniffing a little as he closed his right hand around Blaine's left.

He had gathered the long string leading from Blaine's finger to his own as much in his palm as he could and lifted what was left of it between them to let the ring slide down and end Blaine's fingertip. As soon as it was there Kurt hurried down to elegantly slide it down to sit - _right where it belongs_, Blaine thought.

"It's beautiful. Thank you. You are… perfect. So perfect. Nothing less," Blaine got out, rolling his eyes in their socket for not being able to keep his voice for even the shortest sentence.

"I always dreamed that… that you would propose to me. Some day. But then one day I walked by this jeweler and saw it and - and I pictured this." He let out his now free left hand to show that he meant the rose petals and the light setting and the string that was floating in the air from his finger.

"I was terrified to do it, but… I think it went pretty well," he said, a smile spreading, before he took a tighter grip around Blaine's hand and leaned in to make their lips meet. Soft and warm, not moving just simply pressing light, but firm.

Their lips parted, but their faces didn't. They were only an inch apart, and Blaine could feel Kurt's breathing on his skin, and he was sure that if either of them moved their noses would collide.

"Happy birthday," Kurt whispered, as if he had only just revealed the surprise of the year a second earlier.

Blaine couldn't stop himself from laughing. He was just too cute sitting there, still in his pajamas, his hair still messy from bed and tears drying up on his cheeks - god only knew how early he had to have got up to prepare everything, and how had he even got roses on this time of the day?

"Best - birthday present - ever," Blaine exclaimed, pressing his lips against Kurt's with every word, not closing his eyes, but holding Kurt's locked to take in all of the amazement of the stars.

"I think… we should go back to bed. And snuggle up and cuddle and just… I wanna be with you. I don't wanna care about anything today. I just wanna be with you," Blaine asked, hoping desperately that it would be possible. An entire day with nothing but Kurt and no need to get dressed or comb his hair or anything. Just Kurt.

"But I got coffee, and breakfast and…" Kurt started blabbering out but was stopped by Blaine's lips once again.

"We'll just take it with us. It's fine. Please just go with me," he kept on begging, and he could see Kurt caving in even before he said it himself.

"Alright. But just because it's your birthday. I'll clean this up later -" he said, pretending to be reluctant, but Blaine knew perfectly well that he wanted it just as much.

Blaine stood up and reached down his hand for Kurt to take it so he could help him off the floor. It wasn't until then that it hit him that this plan had to be really well thought through and sneaky to work.

"How long have you even been sitting there waiting for me to wake up?" he asked as they walked back towards the bedroom, hoping that it hadn't been too long. He had done so much to make this happen, and now he only wished that he hadn't sat on the table for so long that he was completely numb in the entire lower part of his body.

"Oh only a few hours," Kurt said dramatically, Blaine not sure whether or not to take him seriously.

"I'm kidding. I got up like an hour before you and got everything out; picked up coffee and breakfast, and decorated our poor rug - just everything. I guess I've been sitting there for around 20 minutes."

"I'm sorry I was so long on waking up," Blaine apologized as they entered the room, the light hitting them like a slap in the face from coming from the dark living room and hall so he hurried to close the curtains, leaving the room as dark as the rest of the apartment.

"That's okay. It gave me time to kill myself, and let me go over what I wanted to say a million times and telling myself how ridiculous I sounded. How cliché it was," Kurt said with a sour pout as he crawled to his knees on the bed in front of him.

Blaine let his arms around his waist and fumbled for words. Well know he definitely was being ridiculous.

"Are you kidding me? That was… incredible, mind blowing, beautiful - magnificent. Everything - you just… hit me. Strong and heavy, and completely perfect. You are so strong, and I admire you so much," Blaine crooned and puffed him over so they could fall to the bed together.

They agreed that it probably would be for the best to take off the string. To avoid anyone getting strangled or a finger being pulled off by accident. Kurt untied both bows and folded the string neatly and put it on his nightstand before he turned back to Blaine, wrapping the arms around each other, letting Blaine put his head on his chest.

"I am so sorry I ever broke your heart, baby. I… was so stupid. Ignorant. I had no clue that - I did actually. But I wouldn't admit. And… I was so afraid to screw up our friendship, and lose you - but then instead it just got so much better. I just hope you know that I would never break your heart again," Blaine exclaimed, not much of an apology, but it was the best his brain could come up with in this mist of ecstasy.

"I know, love. Don't think about it," Kurt assured him, letting his fingers run through his untidy curls.

Blaine held up his hand so he could really see the ring. The clear silver, with a thin black line twisting around it - and then it hit him that where people usually put a stone or something like that a little G clef was engraved. It wasn't any bigger than one had to really stare to see it, but it was perfect.

"This is so fantastic. But - don't you have one for yourself? You need to have one too," Blaine wondered, suddenly nervous that Kurt didn't have a match.

"Of course. I have it right here. I just hoped that… maybe you would put it on me," he responded, a clear hint in his voice, as he showed Blaine the ring he had pulled from his pocket.

Blaine instantly sat up, staring at him as if he had been crazy - what a question.

"I would be very honored to," he said and took the ring from Kurt's hand, seeing it was identical - and inscription on the inside of the band, so he held it up to look closer and see what it was.

A small _B + K and his birthday_, stinging in Blaine's chest, welling with all this love for his boyf- _fiancé_. Wow.

"Yours has the same," Kurt shared, sounding very proud.

Blaine grabbed his left hand and slid the ring on his fingers, making sure to both catch Kurt's eyes, but still see how perfectly the ring fell into place. _Right where it belongs_.

"I love them," Blaine beamed and kissed him. Deep and long, soft and passionate. Letting their lips slowly massage each other, feeling one another, making the moment completely freeze.

"Let's stay here for a little bit. We can always eat later. This is just… right where I wanna be," Kurt whispered as Blaine let himself back to lie on his chest, and felt Kurt's fingers back in his hair.

"Good idea. You're so warm and soft," Blaine agreed, closing his eyes, wishing for them to be able to put life on hold and just lie there holding each other.


End file.
